Let me tell you, managing projects is not an easy feat. That too managing a project solo is even harder. There are so many million things to do, so many moving parts and so little time. Sometimes you feel like if only you could create copies of yourself and assign to each one a a task, you'd be gold. But let's be real my friend - quantum physics isn't there yet. That's just a sci-fi dream for now and a whole different philosophical debate to have so let's not go there.
I've been doing this for many years now, I'm not a pro or anything but I can manage starting a project, seeing it through and finishing it usually on or before time. I've also failed a ton at this so you could say my advice is worth it's weight. I stand high on piles of my failures.
1. Realistic Expectations
Our mind likes to imagine, it likes to look into the future. It likes to imagine things that haven't happened yet. It's normal but don't let it dictate your actions. A lot of times our expectations can actually be a hinderence to doing things.
Someone once told me "Always underpromise and overdeliver". It's a hard thing to do because you set so many expectations for yourself but the truth is you don't have to impress yourself or anyone in the begining.
2. Set Achievable goals in chunks of 7 days
You have to break the entire duration of the project into chunks of 7 days. Usually, when we take on a new project, we see a bird's eye perspective of it. We see a very large mountain that we have to climb. Breaking things down is the most ideal way to go about tackling a new challenge.
There are many project management techniques but as a solo you don't want to burden yourself with those. They add more friction and you get lost in the analysis paralysis of doing things right. The best way to approach this is to break it into chunks of 7 days. Each chunk is a milestone. The first few chunks will focus on understand the project and getting the first draft ready.
But don't plan everything ahead, that'll only overwhelm you. Think of the larger picture but only create tasks for the first 2 chunks. And when you complete a chunk, you create tasks for the next week and so on.
3. Don't overcomplicate things with complex tools
Many a times, we see this fancy new tool that'll help you manage a project. There are many tools, even the act of picking the right one can be a challenge and add a lot of friction. You don't want that. A simple todo list will do - maybe obsidian or notion or something simpler. The more complex a tool, the more space it takes in your head. Remember, you're doing it solo.
There was a time I used to try Trello and Linear, but I realized they are an overful for a solo person.
4. Use a timer for most task
Timers exist not to keep track of how long you work or what you do with your time, well they are one of the features but the main reason one must use a timer is to keep them focused on just one task. The idea of the clock ticking and the river of time slipping away creates this realization that you only have to focus on one thing.
You can use a phyiscal Pomodoro timer or maybe even a software like Otto. Ideally somethingt that is next to you and removes the friction to actually use it.
5. Create routines
This is a big one, our lives are composed of routines and so are projects. People work on projects so projects depend on people's routines. I work on many different projects, I juggle multiple areas from product development and design to writing and customer research. It's a diverse range of things and it is easy to burn out. I've burnt out before but the trick I learned is to have a downtime skill. A downtime skill is something that is related to your project, but it is also something that you enjoy doing and doesn't feel like work. For me, that is writing. Product Development takes effort, lots of mental effort, and doing it continuously for a few weeks tires me, so switch to writing. Like I am doing right now. It is a creative outlet and I seem to enjoy it.
You could find joy in other things, maybe you're a writer so experiment with desiging covers or taking pictures for your book.
Another tip is to do something you suck at.
6. Use systems like daily streaks
I wouldn't call myself a competitive person, infact I don't see the point in competing with anyone. I like to do my own thign but I do like competing with myself. It's fun, I try to be better than I was couple of days ago. It's always about sharpening your craft.
I use GitHub to store my projects, if you don't know what GitHub is it's a cloud-based storage system that developers and companies use to keep an online version of their code. I also use it to store my writings. Github has this really nice feature that I'm somewhat addicted to. Anyone you upload your code to GitHub it creates a streak graph. The more you upload per day, the greener it gets. And if you don't it'll stay gray. This is mine in the last few months. I told myself that "ain't gonna break the streak". And I've been way more productive.
[this is my streak. Add image]
I'm not saying streaks make you productive but it is the consistency chain that makes you want to keep going. So I highly recommend using something like that.
7. Multitask but compartmentalize
Multitasking is all the rage these days. Some say you should multitask and others say it makes your progress slower. Now from my observation I'd say listen to neither. If multitasking works for you, do it. If it doesn't, then don't.
I personally like to multitask. And when I say multitasking I don't mean doing 2 or more things at a given moment. Like answering your emails whilst writing an article. That's nuts and you're bound to mess things up.
What I'm reffering to is multi-tasking by context switching. You do one thing for a minute and then you do somethign else. The way I do multi-tasking is by compartmentalziing my tasks. I don't do everything in just one tool, I've created systems to let me work on just one tool for a task and then switch context to another task by using another tool. That way the mental burden decreases.
But i'd say 2 is fine, doing any more than that and you'l be burnt out soon.
8. Add some buffer
Working all the time isn't created, it'll make you dull like a zombie. You also need enough rest, the brain uses most of the body's energy. So thinking requires effort and thinking a lot without a break can hinder your progress. So focus on taking short or long breaks, don't be strict with the duration. You have to be kind and generous to yourself. Often times we beat ourselves up for not reaching our goals.
Tip: If you feel like you're falling behind, use the stream method to remind yourself about the progress.
9. Simplify the complex, Underpromise, then Overdeliver
Simplifying anything isn't easy. It may sound simple but it requires quite a lot of reflection and understanding of systems. You have to know the rules to break them.
So if you're struggling with a task, something that is blocking you. Really take some time to reflect deeply about
- why it's blocking you
- is it your skill or is it the task itself
- how can you simplify it in such a way that it works
- it doesn't have to be pretty.